Ascension Presents with Fr. Mike Schmitz- YouTube. Day 5, 2024
Genesis 10-11 and Psalm 2
Back on track 🙂
Genesis 10 and 11 are the last two chapters on the early world. Genesis 10 lists the genealogies of Noah’s sons and describes how these families spread out across the middle east.
Nimrod is a grandson of Ham, and he becomes a mighty ruler. He has ambition for excellence placed in his heart, but he becomes ruthless in his ambition. Bible scholars take the line “He [Nimrod] was a mighty hunter before the Lord”, where before the Lord means, not so much ‘in the sight of God’, but before God in precedence, or greater than God. Nimrod sounds pretty impressive, but he becomes ruthless in his ambition to be greater than God and God’s laws. Nimrod builds the tower of Babel out of pride (“Come, let us make a name for ourselves”), rather than following in obedience to God’s law. He would have been better to build a temple or church very beautifully in reverence to the Lord, rather than a citadel to the self. Nimrod’s gifts are being misused.
Psalm 2, once again, is a way to reiterate God’s moral law about wise leadership, in alignment and in closeness with Him, rather than in contradiction to Him. i.e. “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
Still, I think it will be difficult to square all the talk of God’s wrath against those who would defy His law rather than follow it.
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Rebekah Martin
Citations:
The Bible in a Year & More: Fr. Mike & Jeff Cavins. (2021e, June 13). Day 5: Tower of Babel — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBoRts9y6Ko
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